A newly discovered species of shark is making waves off the coast of Florida.

After decades of speculation, the Atlantic sixgill shark was confirmed last week by a team of scientists at the Florida Institute of Technology.

The underwater predator was long thought to be of the same species as Hexanchus nakamurai, a shark that also holds an unusual set of six gills. Now, by examining the shark through genetic testing, scientist know that the similar-looking shark is actually an entirely different species.

"We showed that the sixgills in the Atlantic are actually very different from the ones in the Indian and Pacific oceans on a molecular level, to the point where it is obvious that they're a different species even though they look very similar to the naked eye," Toby Daly-Engel, the scientist leading the team at Florida Tech, said in a news release.

According to the marine scientists, the 6-foot Atlantic sixgill shark is smaller than its Pacific cousin, which can grow to around 15 feet. In addition, aside from having a new scientific name — Hexanchus vitulus — confirming the new species will also help scientists keep the animal alive.

"Because we now know there are two unique species, we have a sense of the overall variation in populations of sixgills. We understand that if we overfish one of them, they will not replenish from elsewhere in the world," Daly-Engel said.

Above: Check out a list of shark species that are (mostly) friendly to humans.